Police believe Shane Lambert, 39, from 11 Valley Park Drive in Norwalk, killed Berens at his residence at some point Friday afternoon.

Norwalk police found Berens' body alongside a farm lane leading to a soybean field on Washington Road — just outside the city limits of Norwalk.

Huron County Coroner Dr. Jeff Harwood said Berens' body will be taken to the Lucas County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy before an official cause of death is released.

"This is a tragedy," Norwalk police Chief David Light said during a press conference. "It's not the type of thing we're used to investigating here. It's quite a shock to the community and the family of Mr. Berens."

Norwalk police received a call from Berens' neighbor on Saturday at 10:17 a.m. The neighbor told police they had not seen Berens since Friday afternoon, his house door was open, one of the cars was missing and Berens' dogs were nowhere to be found.

After receiving another call reporting a suspicious vehicle parked at Berens' 5 Morley Drive residence, police arrived at the residence to perform a welfare check.

Light said two officers arrived and conducted the welfare check by performing a protective sweep around the residence. They did not find anyone inside Berens' home nor did they initially observe any signs of foul play.

Shortly after receiving the suspicious vehicle call, police received a call from Lambert's wife Jennifer with information which would help them piece together what had happened.

Jennifer told police she saw her husband Shane come home Friday afternoon with blood on his arms, face and shirt. Detectives used that information to make a determination of what they believe took place.

"(Shane) left the house Friday afternoon and went two blocks east of there to Mr. Berens' place and was back home all in 45 minutes," Light said. "He had rode a bicycle over to Mr. Beren's house. We believe he committed the crime in the garage of Mr. Berens' house, then had him in the car, went about a quarter mile to the north where he disposed of the body then went back to his house to change that bloody shirt. He then went south to Mansfield."

Detectives used that information to obtain a search warrant of Berens' house Sunday morning.

Agents from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation were called in to assist in collecting evidence and processing the scene during the search. Light said police found Berens' cane -- which he could not walk without -- as well as some personal papers including his social security card on the garage floor.

Shane had previously lived in Mansfield for years and still had family in the area. Mansfield Police assisted with the investigation by interviewing several of Shane's relatives including his son, Ty Forwith and William "Billy" Lambert.

Light said William Lambert told Mansfield police Shane Lambert had been at their residence on 511 Pearl St. Saturday and left early Sunday morning. The elder Lambert had been smoking crack cocaine and he had been very nervous, Light said. At one point, Forwith told William Lambert his father "did something he was probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison for," Light added.

Based on that information, Mansfield detectives obtained a warrant and called upon BCI agents to assist in searching and processing the Pearl Street residence Sunday.

Several items were recovered from the search. Mansfield detectives learned Lambert had burned some items in a fire pit behind the house. BCI agents processed the fire pit and recovered a pair of men's glasses that Light said appeared to be the same type and style of those worn by Berens in his driver's license photo. They also recovered business cards with the word "Norwalk" illegibly written on them.

Later on Sunday, Mansfield police found the 2001 Ford Taurus that belonged to Berens.

Berens, who had been handicapped from a traffic crash as a teenager, had formally attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for 15 years, Light said. He had recovered from his addiction. After his recovery, Berens decided to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Norwalk to help others through the recovery process. It was at one of those meetings where Berens met Lambert about a month and a half ago, the chief said.

The two learned they lived close to one another and their friendship developed.

Norwalk police learned through a conversation with Lambert's wife that Berens frequently gave her and her husband rides to the store and to other places.

Light said Berens would frequently take Lambert to Mansfield to see his family.

Light said Lambert became angry with Berens after he refused to drive him around anymore. According to the chief, Berens' friends told police Berens wanted to cut off association with Lambert because Lambert would not help himself and follow instructions assigned by Narcotics Anonymous.

When police recovered Berens' vehicle, they found the front passenger seat was soaked in blood with more blood splattered inside the vehicle. Police believe Berens was murdered inside his car.

Norwalk police distributed fliers Sunday evening asking the public for help in locating Lambert.

At about 3:52 a.m. Monday, Mansfield police reported Lambert died after he was involved in an officer-involved shooting.

Norwalk police detectives are in the process of obtaining another search warrant for a Mansfield residence believed to be related to Berens' death.